Lucky
by DandyBoyDaniel
Summary: Draco Malfoy doesn't really know how lucky he is to have Theodore Nott until the Final Battle of Hogwarts. Draco/Theodore angsty, fluffy slash with a dash of wry humor.


_Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Harry Potter, nor do I financially benefit from playing with J.K. Rowling's characters._

"Lucky"

The smell of charred timbers and the hum of magic hung in the thick air, clouded with dust and smoke. The muffled sounds of chaos from other parts of the castle were becoming more distinct as Draco staggered through the crumbling corridors. He was getting closer to the battle. But Draco wasn't there to join the fray. He was searching for something. Something more valuable than glory, more important to him than even his own life. It was this realization that brought him back to the war zone in the first place. Up until this point, nothing seemed more important than self-preservation. Love makes people bold. It can also make people brave.

~M~

Earlier, the whole school was sequestered in the Great Hall, waiting for the impending chaos to begin. Draco couldn't imagine the staff allowing the children to remain in the middle of a battleground. He knew there would be an opportunity for them to leave. And sure enough, McGonagall made an announcement that all those students who wanted to leave would be evacuating in ten minutes. He pulled his closest confidantes around him and instructed, "Don't stay to fight. It's not worth it. Not for a grudge between Voldemort and Potter. If you die for Him, you won't be revered as a hero. You should all leave."

Theodore gave Draco a suspicious look. "Where are _you_ going? Aren't you coming with us?"

Draco simply shook his head and absently rubbed his left forearm, which had been burning all day.

"He's calling you. Isn't he," said Blaise, glancing down at Draco's shirtsleeve which covered his Dark Mark.

Pansy huffed, "You can't be expected to fight. You're just a kid!"

Astoria threw her arms around Draco's neck, tears beginning to stream down her face. "You don't have to go to them. We'll hide. He'll never find you."

Pansy put a hand on her hip and looked away with lips pursed. Millicent draped a consoling arm over Pansy's shoulders.

Draco's arms clung to Astoria's small frame. He dearly wished he could just leave with the others and hide. "I can't. I just…can't," he muttered sadly.

She stood on her toes, kissed his cheek, and whispered in his ear, "Stay near Corvus. You'll be safer."

Draco nodded, though he had no intention of doing as Astoria asked.

"Tell him that I love him, please," she whimpered. Draco nodded again. He was too weary at this hour of the night to feel angry about Astoria's foolish choice of lovers, a charming, albeit psychotic, Death Eater six years her senior. "I love you too, Draco. Stay safe."

Draco gave his best friend a parting squeeze and simply said, "I'll try."

"Take this with you," said Graham, tossing him a tiny pocket-sized umbrella.

Draco glanced at him sideways, but didn't bother asking for clarification. That vanishing cabinet incident really did Montague's head in.

Daphne, who was hanging on Graham's arm, giggled as if she was in on some secret joke of theirs.

"You never know when you might need it," said Ava, Graham's sister. "When it rains, it pours." Apparently, she was in on the joke too.

"Er, thanks. I think." Draco slipped the little umbrella into the pocket of his robes with a perplexed look on his face.

"Please try not to die, Draco," said Daphne without any real affection. "I'd hate for my bridesmaid's dress to go to waste."

Astoria gave her sister a disgusted huff, which was returned mockingly.

The comment, though backhanded, was a pleasant ray of hope. They'd get through this. The war would end, life would go on, and Draco and Astoria would be married a little over a year from now, as arranged by their parents. Though the prospect of marrying his best friend, whom he wasn't romantically attached to, was not a happy one, it was at least some semblance of normalcy to cling to. Something to think about other than death and war.

Maryrose interjected. "You shouldn't go alone. It's too dangerous. Remember, you're the enemy."

"He's not going alone," said Gregory. This didn't seem to make Maryrose feel any better as she gave Greg a worried look.

Vincent cut in impatiently. "We've got to leave with the others then separate from them, or somebody's going to get suspicious."

Draco wasn't surprised by Vincent's clever suggestion. He'd matured a lot this year. He'd become more ambitious and honed his Slytherin cunning. Draco could hardly call him a dim-witted bodyguard anymore. Before this conversation had ever taken place, Vincent took Draco and Greg aside and told them of his plan to capture Potter and serve him to Voldemort. Draco knew that he'd be safer traversing the battleground with Vincent and Greg, even if their goals differed from his.

During this whole exchange, Theodore stood by silently, his arms crossed, with a frown creasing his lips. "Let's talk," said Draco, as he took Theodore by his arm and guided him to a hidden, uninhabited corner of the Great Hall, away from prying eyes.

Theodore was unusually quiet. From the pained expression on Theodore's face, Draco knew there was something eating him. "You didn't tell me you were leaving with Vincent and Greg."

"I thought I just did," said Draco, still trying to figure out why Theodore was so upset.

Theodore's bottom lip quivered slightly, and his eyes looked misty. "Why didn't you discuss this with me first?"

"It's not up for discussion. That's why," said Draco, annoyed.

A tear streaked down Theodore's face. "You promised me we'd be together at the end, whether it be to fight, or to run. We were supposed to do it together."

Draco should have known Theodore would bring this up. They'd talked about it quite early on in their relationship. He was foolish to think Theodore would just blindly let Draco go to war without him. He took Theodore's face into his hands and wiped the errant tear with his thumb. "I'm not leaving you to go fight along side Him. I'm going to find my parents and we're going to get the fuck out of here."

"Oh…" said Theodore, gazing down at the stone floor, still not pleased with Draco's explanation.

"Look, I have a plan. I want you to apparate home as soon as you're evacuated, then-"

Theodore interrupted, "I'm coming with you."

Draco declared firmly, "You're not coming, Theodore. It's too dangerous. You apparate home, I'll find my parents, then-"

Theodore wouldn't hear it. "I'm not going home without you. I'm coming with you to find your parents."

"No, you're not," Draco insisted, "You have to leave with the others. You'll be safer. If anything happened to you, I'd…" He trailed off, not wanting to think about the possibility of any harm coming to Theodore.

McGonagall called out for the evacuees to gather. Similar scenes erupted around the Great Hall, of couples and friends reluctant to separate, sharing rushed, teary goodbyes. Draco grasped Theodore's shoulders and pleaded desperately. "Please, Theo. Go home. When I find my mum and dad, we'll meet you there. Nobody will come looking for us at your house. Not with your father dead and gone."

Theodore pressed his lips to Draco's, tears running down his face in earnest now. "I can't leave you, Draco."

Draco could taste the saltiness of tears and the bitterness of desperation on his lover's kiss. It broke his heart. He whispered shakily, nearly on the verge of tears himself, "If you truly love me, you'll go home. Please, Theodore. Do this for me."

McGonagall gave a last call. Theodore reluctantly pulled away from Draco, his eyes reddened from crying. He nodded. "Okay…Walk with me."

Draco, Theodore, Vincent, and Gregory hung at the tail end of a mass of students, mostly young ones and Slytherins, leaving the Great Hall in a swift procession lead by McGonagall. Draco and Theodore walked closely with their arms nearly touching. Theodore took Draco's hand as they strode somberly through the darkened passages of the castle, lit only by McGonagall's wandlight. In the dimness of the corridor, Draco allowed this display of affection.

Apparently surprised, Theodore glanced at Draco and grinned. "You're okay with this."

Draco gave a small smile in return. "For now."

Theodore took it further and slipped his arm around the back of Draco's waist and rested his head on his shoulder as they walked.

This was too much for Draco. "Er… What are you doing?"

Draco was still stubbornly trying to hide their relationship from the rest of the school, even though most of his friends in Slytherin knew, and gossip was difficult to contain within one house. Draco was very uncomfortable with public displays of affection in places where he felt he had to keep up appearances.

"I don't care if you don't like it. I'm not letting you go until you leave," declared Theodore, equally as stubbornly.

Draco gave a resigned sigh. Everyone was too terrified right now to care anyway.

"Are you quite sure I can't come with you, Draco?" Theodore asked.

"Positive," Draco answered definitively.

Theodore proposed, "What if your parents don't want to leave?"

Draco snorted, "Believe me, they'll leave. They'll leave for _me_."

Theodore lifted his head off Draco's shoulder and posed, whispering, "And risk the wrath of You-Know-Who for their desertion?"

Draco's response was confident, yet also whispered. "Their love for me is stronger than their love for Him. To be honest, they've been disillusioned with Him, just as I have been, ever since I was forced to take The Mark."

Theodore gave Draco an astute look. "They'd risk their lives for you, as you would for them. And you're perfectly fine with that."

"Yeah, they're my parents. Of course."

Theodore returned his head to Draco's shoulder. "So if somebody who loved you wanted to risk his life for you, you'd be okay with it?"

"No, Theodore. You're not coming," said Draco flatly.

"It was worth a shot," Theodore shrugged sadly.

Draco stopped and regarded Theodore with sincere eyes, his hand curled comfortingly around the back of Theodore's neck. "Hey. I promise I'll come home to you. I swear on my grandfather's grave." He leaned forward to press a light kiss to Theodore's lips, confident that nobody in the procession had bothered to look back. Even Vincent and Greg knew to let Draco and Theodore have their moment.

"You'd better, Draco Malfoy, or else," said Theodore, sounding more flirtatious than stern. Then he rested his forehead on Draco's and sighed, "If you don't make it, I won't be able to live with myself."

Continuing with Theodore's initial playfulness, Draco replied, "Don't get any ideas, Theodore. If you end up offing yourself after all this, my ghost is going to kick your ghost's arse."

Theodore chuckled. "Can ghosts kick arse? Do they even have arses?" He snaked his arms around Draco's waist, smoothed his hands down the back of his trousers, and gave a teasing squeeze. "Can ghosts _fuck_?"

Draco smiled and gave a lighthearted, exasperated sigh. "I don't bloody know! Just… go home. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I'll be waiting in my bedroom wearing nothing but a smile," Theodore mumbled sensually against Draco's lips.

Draco could feel warmth pooling in his lap and spreading over his body. His hands took Theodore's backside just as playfully, but more commandingly as he drawled smoothly, "Yeah, I'm sure that would go over really well with my parents." He snorted and spoke mockingly, "Excuse me, mum and dad, while I go fuck my boyfriend senseless. By the way, I'm gay. Surprise! … Right."

While he was being sarcastic, Draco had admitted two things that he often found hard to verbalize. First, he referred to Theodore as his boyfriend. This alone made Theodore's smile light up the dark corridor. Second, he referred to himself as 'gay' – Though it was a recent realization, it was still quite difficult for Draco to use that word. It was the urgency of the moment that brought it out – the possibility that this might be the last time they'd ever see each other.

"We'd better go, Draco. We can leave the group when they turn that corner," said Vincent. Draco hadn't even realized he had walked back to him.

"I'll be right there," said, Draco, not bothering to let go of Theodore, though feeling slightly uncomfortable with Vincent seeing them in an intimate embrace.

"I love you Draco. Be safe," said Theodore softly, clutching Draco's hand to his heart.

Draco gave him a swift kiss on the lips. "Me too. And I will." He pulled Theodore into a tight embrace.

"I need to hear you say it, Draco. Please."

He didn't know what it was about those words that made it more difficult to say than anything else, more humiliating than admitting he didn't fancy girls, more humbling than admitting his romantic ties to another boy. In that stubborn mind of his, being in love with somebody he could never truly have would be much easier if those words were never spoken. Draco felt the words burning in his chest, but they wouldn't leave his lips, no matter how deeply he felt them. If he lost Theodore, it would hurt so much more if he spoke those words now.

He kissed Theodore again. "You know how I feel."

"Please…" Theodore's eyes were twinkling once more with impending tears in the soft light.

Another kiss couldn't placate the other boy, but it was all Draco could give him. "I'll see you later, Theo. Keep a fire burning in the floo, just in case." He turned to leave, unable to look at Theodore's sad eyes anymore without getting choked up.

~M~

It was suicide, but there was no other way to get to them. Having been disarmed by Potter, Draco ran wandless across the ruined corridors of Hogwards along with a ramshackle army of students, staff, magical creatures, Aurors, and Potter loyalists. He was running on the wrong side, towards highly skilled warriors of the Dark Arts. Towards the Death Eaters. Towards The Dark Lord. But most importantly, towards his parents. Hexes flew all around him in sparks of colored lights like a fireworks display on Guy Fawkes night. Surrounding him were the stench of blood and burnt flesh, and the sickening sounds of horrified shrieks and explosions. All this exacerbated his already heightened sense of panic. Through the embers, sparks, smoke, and a puffy right eye (he'd been punched), he could see them – two unmistakable heads of platinum blond hair. They weren't fighting. They were running like mad towards him, also wandless, dodging darts of light, screaming his name hysterically. Draco bounded over the bodies of the dead and injured to get to them, feeling nothing in his heart but a desperate urgency to reconnect with the ones he loved.

As he drew closer, he could see his father was just as beaten and bruised as Draco, but thankfully, his mother appeared physically unharmed. Draco leaped into their arms and barely allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief before picturing the Nott estate in his mind. _Destination, determination, and deliberation._

The Malfoys found themselves on the lawn of an old, simple manor home in the countryside of Hampshire. Draco staggered to his feet, ran towards the door, and banged on it loudly. "Theodore!" He called out. When the door opened, Draco nearly tripped over the house elf as he stormed in. "Where's Theodore?"

"Young Master Nott isn't here, sir," answered the house elf with a reverent bow.

"Where the fuck is he?" Draco asked in a panic.

"He's at Hogwart's sir. Where else would he be?"

~M~

Draco had to lie to his mother about where he was going, for if she knew he was going back to Hogwarts, she'd never let him leave. To Draco's surprise, he found himself within the castle. He hadn't expected to be able to apparate directly into the school, but with the battle raging on, the wards had apparently been weakened. It took him a while to get his bearings with the castle in an unrecognizable ruin. From the green glow shining through the windows into the dusty, smoky room, Draco deduced he was in the Slytherin dorms. He ran out, tearing through the deserted dungeons, leaping up the staircase, his lungs and his muscles burning. As he ascended, the sounds of war became audible. Once again, despite his instincts, he ran towards the sounds of danger.

On the ground floor, it was evident that the battle was raging on. Draco crept through the corridor, hiding behind rubble and tapestries. He'd lost his wand, lost Vincent and Greg, and clearly, he'd lost his mind, for he was returning to the chaos he had just escaped. As he drew closer to the screams and explosions, bodies began to appear on the floor. A wave of dread filled him, making him shiver as he examined the robes of a person lying face-down on the floor – What if Theodore was amongst the casualties? The robes were completely black, with no colored silk lining to delineate house. Upon closer examination, the body belonged to a Death Eater. It was Corvus Valentine. Draco shuddered again. He leaned over the body, listening for signs of life. He saw his chest move steadily. Valentine was only stunned. Not dead.

"Hey Corvus. If you can hear me, Astoria told me to tell you she loves you. But I think she's daft for consorting with a sick motherfucker like you."

Draco was about to kick Corvus when, suddenly, there was a bang and then a rumble which shook the floor. Then came a deafening crash of falling stone. Draco stumbled backwards away from Corvus' prone form, just as a huge part of the wall crumbled to the floor, blocking the corridor. He barely got out of the way when a part of the ceiling fell behind him. He quickly ducked into a classroom. Another crashing sound, a plume of dust furling into the room, soon followed by a rush of rubble, indicated that the doorway had been blocked. He tried to apparate out of the room, but found that the wards against apparation within the school were still too strong for him to overcome with his limited apparation skills.

His eyes darted all around in the darkness and dust, searching for a way out. Of course, fate would have him chose to run into a room with no windows. Next to the chalkboard was a door that lead into a walk-in storage closet. Inside the closet was another door, presumably leading to the adjoining classroom. The door was locked. Draco had no wand with which to cast an opening charm on the door. He inwardly cursed at his own stupidity for not taking Corvus' wand. If he still had his wand on him. Draco picked up a chair and swung it at the wooden door, over and over, to no avail. To his surprise, the last bang was answered by a frightened voice from the other side of the door.

"Who's there?"

"Help! I'm trapped! Open the bloody door!" Draco shouted.

There was a pause, and then … "Draco?"

"Theodore!" Draco's heart leapt out of his chest. He plastered himself against the door as if he could somehow get closer this way.

Draco could hear Theodore unlocking the door with a spell. When the door opened, Draco hardly recognized the face that greeted him. Superficial cuts decorated Theodore's forehead with red lines, starkly contrasting the black soot that powdered his face. The two boys nearly knocked each other out with the force of their reuniting embrace.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" asked Draco as he stepped back and looked over Theodore's body for signs of more grievous injury.

Theodore shook his head, smiling. "No, I'm perfectly fine. But you look worse for wear."

"Good," said Draco, before he punched Theodore in the face.

Theodore staggered back holding his bloodied nose, with a look of both shock and outrage on his dirty face. "What the fuck, Draco!"

"You were supposed to leave, dumb-arse!"

"I told you, I couldn't leave you," said Theodore, dabbing at his nose with his sleeve, his eyes apologetic.

"You utterly useless, stubborn, tool!" shouted Draco, the onslaught of emotions still riling him up.

Theodore replied sarcastically, "Love you too, Draco. Thanks."

Draco yanked him into his arms for another embrace, this one even more desperate than the last. He pressed his lips to Theodore's and whimpered, "You should have left like I told you to. I went home… to you." His voice wavered as he buried his face into the side of Theodore's neck. "But you weren't there."

Theodore whispered, "I'm sorry. I tried to find you."

"Do you know what I thought?" said Draco, mumbling against Theodore's skin, "I thought you stayed behind and got your stupid arse killed." He remembered that feeling – it was like somebody reached into his chest, pulled out his heart, and made him watch it being brutalized with a beater's bat. An upwelling of tears threatened to spill as he spoke the last words with a small, emotion-ravaged voice. "I died inside, thinking I never told you that I love you."

"You what?" whispered Theodore, clearly astonished.

Draco pulled away and met Theodore's blue eyes. He looked so silly with all the dirt and blood on his face. It made Draco smile. He wiped the other boy's face with the cuff of his robes and said, "I love you, Theodore, you stupid twat."

Theodore beamed, perhaps attempting smugness, but only coming off as deeply touched. "I know. Congratulations. How does it feel?"

Draco shrugged nonchalantly, though his heart soared. "It feels alright. More importantly, I feel lucky to be alive. Now get us out of here."

Theodore had been similarly trapped in the adjoining classroom, with no windows and a door blocked by rubble.

Draco was mildly disappointed in Theodore, but quite pleased to point out his lack of skill. "You call yourself a wizard? Shit, you've still got your wand and you can't find your way out of a classroom?"

Theodore pouted. "I tried to get out, you know. I was moving the rubble when I heard a banging from the closet. You scared the shit out of me."

Draco and Theodore walked into the other room. At the opposite end was another walk-through storage room connecting to an adjoining classroom. When Theodore put an unlocking spell on the door, it opened into a room that contained an enchanted storm. Wind and rain raged through the door, nearly blowing them over. Hail, the size of golden snitches, pelted the floor, making dents and cracks in the stone and pummeling desks.

"Still got that umbrella?" asked Theodore, half joking.

Draco pulled out the tiny umbrella from his pocket. Theodore tapped it to enlarge it to the size of a large golf umbrella. They charged into the room under the umbrella, fully expecting to get pulverized by the indoor storm. But to their surprise, the rain, wind, and hail bounced off the umbrella as if it were made of rubber.

"Maybe Montague isn't so fucked in the head after all," mused Draco.

~M~

Draco and Theodore stood before a gilded mirror in Draco's room at Malfoy Manor. Draco was wearing an impeccably tailored, white three-piece suit, Theodore, a black one.

"Stop pouting, Theodore. You know what it does to me," said Draco as he adjusted Theodore's silver ascot.

"I can't. This is the worst day of my life," groaned Theodore.

Draco scoffed, "Oh, don't be so bloody dramatic."

"In a few minutes, you'll be married. I think I'm allowed to be dramatic," said Theodore as he made another adjustment to his ascot while looking in the mirror, apparently not satisfied with how Draco had set it.

Draco slapped Theodore's hand away. "Stop fussing. It looks perfect."

"Maybe I don't want it to be perfect. Maybe I want this day to go completely wrong. Maybe I want it to end in ruins." As Theodore's lips were getting progressively more pouty, Draco's trousers were becoming exponentially tighter.

"I warned you about pouting." Draco captured Theodore's pout in a wet, feverish kiss, leaving them both breathless. Draco always found his pout irresistibly kissable.

"You're an arsehole for making me your Best Man," mumbled Theodore.

Draco purred, snaking his arms around Theodore's waist, "But you _are_ the best man for me."

Theodore slipped out of Draco's embrace, pouting again. "Dick. Don't try to charm your way out of this."

Draco hooked his finger into Theodore's belt loop and pulled him back. "I want you close when I speak my vows."

Theodore glared. "So you can torture me?"

"No. You'll see why."

Everything at Draco's wedding had been chosen for him, from his bride to the color of the napkins at the reception. His marriage to Astoria had been arranged almost two years ago by their parents. It was the only way to ensure that Draco would get all of his due inheritance from both the Black family and the Malfoy family. The entire affair was like a theater production. Draco and Astoria were the lead actors, playing their roles with a put-on smile.

The only request that Draco made, other than a choice of suit, was the arrangement of the wedding party at the binding ceremony. Instead of the Best Man standing on the groom's side, Draco insisted that Theodore stand next to Daphne on Astoria's side, and that his mother and father stand with him on his side. Narcissa proclaimed how touching it was that her son wanted his parents close by on the most important day of his life.

But when the actual ceremony took place, it should have become apparent to Theodore why Draco placed everyone in this fashion. During most of the ritual, Draco vaguely looked at Astoria, as was to be expected. But when it came time for the exchange of vows, Draco looked through her and fixed his silver stare upon Theodore as he spoke sincerely.

"I, Draco Lucius Malfoy, bind myself to you, as your partner in life, as the keeper of your heart, as the protector of your soul."

Theodore could not pout after that. In fact, he could hardly keep from smiling the rest of the day. And honestly, what was there not to smile about? It was a glorious day, celebrating not only the joining of two prominent wizarding families, but the triumph of them all over the devastation of the war. Most of them came out not too worse for wear. A surprising number of people on the original guest list, which had been set months before the war ended, were alive, well, and in attendance.

The reception was a raucous party, as would be expected from a Malfoy wedding attended by a bunch of Slytherin teenagers. This was akin to the graduation party that was long overdue for Draco's class. At one point, Draco stepped back from the merriment and watched from afar, surveying the room with a satisfied smirk as he sipped champagne with Theodore.

"My gods, is Daphne going to spend the _entire_ evening stealing her sister's limelight?" asked Draco sarcastically.

"Really. I think she's flashed that enormous engagement ring in front of all three-hundred guests at least twice already," concurred Theodore.

"Blaise is really in for it, marrying a Greengrass," Draco chuckled.

Theodore gestured with his champagne glass towards the bar. "Do you think Daphne and Blaise's engagement was a contributing factor to _that_?" Graham was getting tipsy on cocktail after cocktail after cocktail, each with a little umbrella in it. "Good thing Clara and Ava are here to keep him from getting sloppy. Otherwise, I think we'd have a hot mess on our hands."

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. I think Adrian's penchant for playing drinking games is more a contributing factor." Ava's husband seemed to be putting away shots of firewhiskey at a rate of two for each of Graham's cocktails. Draco's attention was averted to the other side of the room. "Oh look, Astoria's going to throw the bouquet. Get in there, Theodore."

"Shut up, twat."

Draco and Theodre looked on with amusement as Pansy and Maryrose nearly got into a fistfight over the tossed bouquet, which was nothing compared to the scuffle they got into over Jake afterwards. In the end, Astoria, ever the diplomat, gave the prize to Millicent, which made Greg, her date for the evening, quite nervous.

Theodore pointed to a couple on the dance floor. It was Quin and Terrence. "Now _there's_ a pair that know how to dance."

"Are you trying to say I'm not a good dancer?" asked Draco, slightly affronted.

"I wouldn't know," said Theodore, giving Draco a pointed look. "You haven't danced with me since the Halloween Ball at Hogwarts."

Draco gave Theodore a playful nudge and spoke facetiously. "Come on, let's dance. I'm sure my family would just love to see that. Not to mention Astoria's parents."

"Yeah. Though I wonder what the Greengrasses have to say about their newly married daughter dancing with a former Death Eater." Theodore pointed out that Astoria was currently dancing with Corvus Valentine.

Casually, Draco replied, "They can't say shit, actually. Their daughter just _married_ a former Death Eater."

"Lucky bitch," said Theodore with a teasing grin.

"No, I'm the lucky bitch. I still have you." Draco smiled sincerely at Theodore. "I think you need to go out for a smoke right now."

Theodore gave him an inquisitive look, which Draco returned with a knowing leer of his own.

"Oh. Right. Fancy that. I do need a smoke."

Draco put his champagne glass down, took Theodore's away, and set it down as well before leading them out of the ballroom, through the terrace, and onto the lawn of the Malfoy estate. The stars were bright in the night sky and the late spring air was warm, carrying the music from the party on a light breeze. They were alone for the first time since this morning. Draco rested one hand on Theodore's waist and took the other hand in his.

"Dance with me."

Theodore put his free hand on Draco's shoulder and smiled. They danced slowly with their cheeks touching. The feel of Theodore's breath behind his ear made Draco shudder pleasantly. He could smell his subtle cologne - a clean, refined scent. "I love the way you smell. It makes me want to eat you," purred Draco. He could tell from the warmth in Theodore's face that he was blushing.

"Yeah? What else do you love about me?"

Draco kissed Theodore's neck softly as they danced. "I love the way you pout when you're upset, which is more often than not, though I could do without the whining."

Theodore chuckled. "Prat. I don't whine… that much. What else?"

"I love your sense of humor, except when I'm being speared by that sharp wit of yours."

"Mm-hm. Go on."

Draco's voice dripped sensually along Theodore's throat along with wet kisses. "I love how bossy you get when I'm fucking you, particularly when I'm teasing you, and the lovely sounds you make when I'm giving it to you nice and slow."

Theodore joked as he tilted his head to offer Draco better access to his neck, "I make fun of you all the time, I whine, I pout a lot, I'm a bossy bottom, and I'm noisy in bed. So far I fail to see how you can possibly love me."

Draco pulled away to regard Theodore with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk. "But I do." He pressed a soft kiss to Theodore's lips and whispered, "I love you, Theodore Nott. Congratulations. How does it feel?"

Theodore beamed. His rare smile melted Draco's heart and he inwardly added it to the list of things he loved about Theodore.

"I feel like one lucky bitch. Now get us out of here."

_Author's Note: This one-shot __involves characters and story lines from the Hogwarts '97-'98 role-play group on Twitter. Some of it might only make sense to those within the RP. __This is late Christmas gift to all the talented people in our lovely RP group, especially TheoNottJr. I took some liberties with your characters and I hope you don't mind. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the fluffy snarkiness. Please review, particularly if you enjoyed it, since positive reinforcement will likely lead to writing more lovely stories. Thanks._


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